Tablelands company plants hemp ahead of medicinal cannabis talks

Tablelands company plants hemp ahead of medicinal cannabis talks

A Tablelands agricultural company is sowing the seeds for success in the medicinal cannabis industry.

Shane Garozzo and Joe Trimarchi of Trimpex International have launched an industrial hemp program with plans to obtain licences and permits for the cultivation and production of medicinal cannabis.

Mr Garozzo said the company had imported “a great deal of seed” and was planting up to 70ha of hemp across several locations in Queensland, including the Tablelands.

“We expect a yield of between 70 and 100 tonnes of seed grain,” he said.

“We have a very good variety under our belt and seek to further develop it to suit different market endpoints.”

Mr Garozzo said Trimpex would work with local police to ensure crop security.

“We’d like to remind everyone that you can’t smoke industrial hemp,” he said.

“The THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) levels are so low that it wouldn’t be able to psychoactively affect you at all.”

The pair have identified opportunities for growth in the hemp industry and hope to fill gaps in the market.

“We’re working through arrangements now to grow over 20,000ha across Queensland and are looking to locations in northern New South Wales, Victoria, the Northern Territory and Western Australia for our proposed stage 2, 3 and 4 expansions,” said Mr Garozzo.

Mr Garozzo will today attend an Office of Drug Control meeting in Brisbane to learn more about the Commonwealth’s medicinal cannabis scheme.

“We plan to exploit the medicinal cannabis industry to the extent of new laws proposed by the Queensland Government under our existing licences,” he said.

“We’re aiming to attract root-to-shelf medicinal cannabis licences when they become available.

“The final commercial location for that enterprise is as yet undecided and is driven by investor interests.”

This state election the Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF) continues to call for reform to the way governments assist and support farmers before and after natural disasters. More than any other se...